Code-first vs. Product-first

most of the conversations around developer experience are about how to make it easier to write new code, in a vacuum… when in reality, most developers are writing new code that needs to play well with old code.

Users. Many people in a company interact with a typical SaaS product (like Slack, Salesforce, Airtable, Asana), whereas only the engineers typically work with API-first companies.

Coding is a creative pursuit! Creativity thrives under constraints. Adding the “constraint” of a clear problem to solve allows engineers the freedom to explore and create a solution in the way they see fit.

The best engineers I know are product-minded: thinking about solving the problem for humans first and foremost, which leads to the next point.